Love Above All Else: Anything Else is Useless

Love above all else has been on my heart for the past few months. During this entire pandemic experience I have been asking, ‘Where is the love that we as Christians are supposed to have for others?’ It has been an eye-opening experience watching Christians backbite not only their brothers and sisters in the Lord but others whom we are supposed to love. God never said love only Christians, He said to love everyone. 

Check out the scripture for yourself:
1 Corinthians 13: If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love [for others growing out of God’s love for me], then I have become only a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal [just an annoying distraction]. And if I have the gift of prophecy [and speak a new message from God to the people], and understand all mysteries, and [possess] all knowledge; and if I have all [sufficient] faith so that I can remove mountains, but do not have love [reaching out to others], I am nothing. Anything else is useless. 

Love endures with patience and serenity, love is kind and thoughtful, and is not jealous or envious; love does not brag and is not proud or arrogant.  It is not rude; it is not self-seeking, it is not provoked [nor overly sensitive and easily angered]; it does not take into account a wrong endured. It does not rejoice at injustice, but rejoices with the truth [when right and truth prevail]. Love bears all things [regardless of what comes], believes all things [looking for the best in each one], hopes all things [remaining steadfast during difficult times], endures all things [without weakening].

 And now there remain: faith [abiding trust in God and His promises], hope [confident expectation of eternal salvation], love [unselfish love for others growing out of God’s love for me], these three [the choicest graces]; but the greatest of these is love.

Did God say the greatest of these is FAITH? Christians backbiting others because they choose to protect others by loving others enough to wear a mask or saying if you are wearing a mask you have no faith. Tell me how love is represented in those actions? Tell me how attending large group gatherings and spreading death to others equals love? It does not equal faith either, it’s foolishness. Tell me how bashing doctors and others from the pulpit represents love?  Please take some time to think about what you are doing and showing the world. We are supposed to be Hope and Light in a world full of darkness. I am sorry to say, this is not what I have been seeing or hearing. No, God said the greatest of these is LOVE (unselfish love for others growing out of God’s love for me).  Love above all else, anything else is useless. 

Jesus said the first and greatest commandment is “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’  And then He said,  The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself [that is, unselfishly seek the best or higher good for others]. Once again Jesus admonishes us to LOVE others before ourselves. Yes, faith is important, but LOVE should always come first. One cannot have Faith without LOVE. Faith works by LOVE (Galatians 5:6). 

We are once again in the midst of high Covid numbers. Let’s pray. Look for my book, Praying Through the Pandemic on Amazon. It is full of prayers for first-responders, teachers, students, government officials, and others. Get your copy today. Also available on Amazon, Life Lessons from the Book of Ruth and Being: Manifesting the Image of God.